GROZNY, September 29 (AVN) -- Associates of prominent Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev show absolute indifference to the meeting between President Aslan Maskhadov and Dagestani leader Magomedali Magomedov scheduled for Wednesday, the Military News Agency's sources here said on Wednesday.
Maskhadov is unable to change anything under current conditions, Chechen field commanders said. According to them, real power in this volatile North Caucasian republic belongs to warlords like Basayev and Khattab and their supporters.
The authority of Maskhadov, who was elected president by nation-wide vote in 1996, is totally undermined. The general mobilisation which he had recently declared was not supported by people: civillian Chechens are unwilling to join regular army and police, and if they do take up arms, they prefer to be recruited to guerilla gangs, where salaries are much higher.
At the same time, many Chechens, especially those with families and aged over 35, are doing their best to leave the republic, the sources said.